John's Blog

Museum Of Chinese In The Americas
The Year of the Rooster will be here soon; the year 4703 begins on February 9th! Seems like a good time to visit this museum and grab some Dim Sum at the same time!

“Have you eaten yet,” is a standard Chinese greeting sharing the same connotation as “how are you?” Its' use signifies the importance of food in the Chinese culture. I remember when my wife's grandmother was alive, the only words of English I ever heard her say were "Eat, Eat". I also remember hearing her refer to me as "gwai low" or "gwai jey" which my wife generously translated as "boyfriend" (this was before we were married). It was only later that she shared with me the more literal translation "son of the white ghost", which sounds worse than it is; glad the wife served as a cultural buffer. Perhaps I should learn more Cantonese; my knowledge is limited to mostly food related words, is it any wonder?